Drapery festoon ring



April 3- c. KENNEY 2,316,337

Filed Dec. 29, 1941 3nvcmor Ti illz'azn CKe/zrzey Grim-megs,

Patented Apr. 13, 1943 2,316,337 DRAPERY FEs'rooN RING William C. Kenney, Cranston, R. 1., assignor to Kenney Manufacturing Company, Cranston, R. I.', a corporation of Rhode Island Application December 29, 1941, Serial No. 424,767

.11 Claims. (Cl. Hid-$33) This invention relates to drapery festoon rings.

Such rings are mounted by means of brackets relative to a draped window, door, or other opening, and portions of the drapery are festooned through them to produce the desired decorative effects. The ring supporting bracket is so designed as to provide a U-shaped ring-engaging terminal which permits the ring to be installed either in a hanging or an upright position, and the back face of the ring is usually transversely grooved to snugly receive one leg of the bracke terminal and thereby maintain the ring assembled to the bracket in either position ofuse of the device.

The difficulty with the prior art devices, however, has been in obtaining a proper and uniform fit of the ring and bracket. The bracket could be held to fairly close tolerances, but the thickness of the ring, whether of wood, plastic, or cast iron, could not be maintained sufficiently uniform at such grooveto insure a 'proper fit with the bracket in all cases. I

These difficulties were further increased by the fact that the application of different coats of lacquer or like to the ring or the application of a different number of coats to produce different color efiects likewise caused variations in the thickness of the ring.

Accordingly, the main object of my invention is to construct a festoon ring with a spring factor which will compensate for any variation in the thickness of the rings themselves, due either to inaccuracies of manufacture, or to the nature or number of the coatings employed, so that regardless of the material of which the ring is made and regardless of whether the ring is to be supported by the bracket in a hanging orin an upright position, the U-shaped terminal of the bracket will always snugly fit the ring and maintain the assembly.

Other objects and advantages will appear as the description proceeds.

In carrying out my invention I incorporate, preferably in the back face of the ring, a spring of a width to receive one leg of the U-shaped terminal of the bracket. This spring may take any convenient form but is preferably a spring tongue which may be incorporated with the ring in any desired manner. Where the ring is a metal stamping, the spring may be made integral therewith. Where the ring is of plastic, the spring may be a separate piece molded therein. 01' Where the ring is of wood or cast iron, the spring may be separately attached thereto by any suitable fastening means.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a front view of a typical drapery installation equipped with my festoon rings.

Fig. 2 is a perspective of one of said rings and its bracket as seen from the front, the ring being 'shown in hanging position on the bracket.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but showing the ring supported from below in an upright position on the bracket.

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 44, of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary detail of the ring partly in section and particularly illustrating the (spring tongue or tab.

Figs. 6 and '7 are, respectively, fragmentary front and rear views of the ring shown in Figs. 1 to 5, and

Figs. 8 to 10 inclusive are fragmentary details showing modifications.

The ring It may be of any desired material, as wood, plastic, or metal, and depending on the material of the ring the spring may be incorpo rated therewith in a variety of ways. 7

Where the'ring is stamped from sheet metal or other easily shaped material (Figs. 1 to 7, in-

. elusive), it is preferably though not necessarily concavo-convex in cross-section, presenting a convex front face H and a trough-like back face I2, said faces being defined by the spaced concentric inner and outer edges l3 and I4 of the ring. The outer face ll may be provided with any desired surface ornamentation during the formation of the ring, and after formation may be. lacquered or otherwise coated with one or more coatings to obtain any desired color effects.

In order that the ring may be firmly supported in either a hanging or an upstanding position within the U.-shaped terminal 15 of its-supporting bracket I6, I provide one face of the ring with a spring H to be resiliently engaged by one leg of the U-shaped bracket terminal.

The spring I! may take the form of a tab which is preferably flanged as at 3 along its longitudinal edges to produce a channeled guideway complemental in size and shape to the leg l5 of the bracket terminal I5 by which it is to be engaged when the ring and bracket are assembled to each other, and this tab may either be formed integrally with the blank from which the ring was made or it may be separately formed and attached thereto in any desired manner.

Where the ring is stamped from sheet material, the tab I! is preferably formed as an integral tongue bent at substantially right angles from the outer edge M of the ring across the back of the ring. Preferably also, the front face ll of the ring is formed with a radial groove [9 complemental in size and shape to the other leg I of the bracket terminal by which it is to be frictionally engaged.

By this construction I am able to provide for the firm support of the ring regardless of slight variation in thickness thereof, due either to variations in their production tools, or to variations in the thickness of the different decorative coats which may be applied to the ring, for the spring tab H has sufiicient resilience to insure snug fit of the bracket terminal regardless of such variations in thickness.

It will also be evident that the groove l9 and the channeled formation of the tab I1 also co operate to insure the desired rigidity of the assembled ring and bracket when in use.

Where the ring is of plastic, the spring may be a separate piece 26 (Fig. 8) one end of which is anchored as at 2| in the material of the ring Ill during the process of molding the same.

If the ring is of wood, the spring may be bowed as at 22 and anchored in one face of the ring ll] as at 23 (see Fig. 9).

If the ring is of cast iron, the spring may be attached in position in any convenient manner, as by welding or brazing.

In some instances and with some ring materials, it may be desirable to construct the spring as a U-shaped resilient clip to straddle the ring.

Such a clip is shown in Fig. 10 wherein the resilient bracketterminal engaging legs 24 and 25 of the clip are spaced apart a distance substantially equal to the thickness of the ring ll] by the connecting web of the clip. Where such a clip is used, one leg of the clip may be channeled similarly to the channel I8 to receive the related leg of the bracket.

Although I have described and illustrated the ring as provided on both faces with the spring tab I1 and opposing groove l9, respectively, it will be understood that in some instances the groove [9 may be omitted. Similarly, while the spring tab has been shown as substantially coextensive with the related leg of the bracket, such tab may be narrower, if desired.

Various other modifications in structure, materials and assembly may obviously be made if within the purview of my invention as defined by the appended claims.

What I therefore claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A festoon ring for use with a bracket having a pair of spaced ring-engaging portions to straddle said ring, said ring containing on one face thereof a resilient tab to be engaged by one of the ring-engaging portions of the bracket.

2. The ring of claim 1, the reverse face of said ring having opposite said spring tab a groove of a width to receive the other ring-engaging portion of the bracket.

3. The ring of claim 1, said tab being a tongue bent from one edge of the ring at substantially right angles thereto.

4. The ring of claim 1, the exposed face of said tab having spaced parallel upstanding flanges along its longitudinal edges defining a guideway for the adjacent ring-engaging portion of the bracket.

5. The ring of claim 1, said tab being a tongue bent from one edge of the ring and the exposed face of said tab having spaced parallel upstanding flanges along its longitudinal edges defining a guideway for the adjacent ring-engaging portion of the bracket.

6. A festoon ring for use with a bracket having a pair of spaced ring-engaging portions to straddle the ring, and a spring clip straddling said ring and presenting at opposite faces of the ring legs to be engaged by the ring-engaging portions of the bracket.

7. A festoon ring to be supported either in a hanging or an upright position by the U-shaped terminal of a bracket, said ring having front and back faces defined by the spaced concentric inner and outer edges of the ring, and one face of said ring containing a spring and against which one leg of the bracket terminal is adapted to bear, said spring extending across the ring substantially from edge to edge thereof and exerting a spring action on said bracket leg sufiicient to maintain the ring and bracket in positive frictional engagement in either position of use of the ring and bracket.

8. The ring of claim 7, the exposed face of said spring having spaced parallel flanges along its longitudinal edges constituting a guideway for said leg of the bracket terminal.

9. The ring of claim 7, said spring being a tongue bent at substantially right angles from one edge of the ring at the back face of the ring and extending across the back face towards the opposite edge of the ring and being free at said opposite edge so as to exert a spring action against said leg of the bracket terminal.

10. The ring of claim 7, said spring being a tongue bent at substantially right angles from one edge of the ring at the back face of the ring and extending across the back face towards the opposite edge of the ring and being free at said opposite edge so as to exert a spring action against the related leg of the bracket terminal, and the exposed face of said tongue having spaced parallel flanges along its longitudinal edges constituting a guideway for said leg.

11. A festoon ring to be supported either in a hanging or an upright position by a U-shaped terminal of a bracket, said ring being stamped from sheet material and being concavo-convex in cross-section and presenting a convex front face and a concave back face, said front and back faces being defined by the spaced concentric inner and outer edges of the ring, one face of said ring having a recess of substantially the width of one leg of the bracket terminal extending crosswise the ring, and the other face of the ring opposite to said recess containing a spring against which the other leg of the bracket terminal is adapted to bear, said spring extending across the ring substantially from edge to edge thereof, and said recess and spring receiving the respective legs of the U-shaped terminal of the bracket and cooperatively exerting a spring action thereon sufficient to maintain the ring and bracket in positive frictional engagement in either position of use of the ring and bracket.

WILLIAM C. KENNEY. 

